Tic-tac-toe is a game which is widely played and consists essentially of nine squares, sections or divisions which are arranged in three rows, with three such sections in each row. In playing the game, two contestants are involved and the object of the game is to place markings of a type identifying a particular player in a row of three, and which rows may be either vertical, horizontal or diagonal. Inasmuch as a player having the first move in such a game has a decided advantage, a corollary object is to prevent such player from obtaining three markings in a row, with the ultimate hope of achieving a tie game. At the present time, there are known examples of board games for playing tic-tac-toe in which lights are illuminated for each section, as will be later discussed. Moreover, in the playing of board games, such as Monopoly, Parcheesi, or other game in which a playing piece is moved a number of steps determined either by skill or chance, and particularly in Monopoly it is often desirable to indicate that a particular piece of property is being held by a player, but there are no known Monopoly boards in which the ownership of a piece of property is indicated by a light being illuminated in a section for that piece of property. In other board games, the movement of a playing piece over a series of steps is involved but at the present time there are no games of this type in which the movement of a playing piece is determined by the illumination of a light.
In assisting young children in learning the letters of the alphabet, figures, colors and representations of certain objects, such as pets, it is believed to be desirable to provide a teaching aid in which a receptacle has a plurality of sections each of which has an electric light positioned therein, together with a pushbutton switch which is operated from the top of the receptacle by pressing against a flexible removable panel. It is believed that there is no known device of this character which is susceptible of such multiplicity of teaching aids.
Before this application was prepared for filing in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patentability search was conducted. This search brings to light the following patents as those found which are believed to come closest to the present subject matter:
______________________________________ 3,947,975 Wallach 3,367,663 Marks 3,224,778 Schram 3,425,699 D'Onofrio 3,779,553 Secter 3,778,063 Strand 3,145,993 Archer 2,877,019 Keister ______________________________________
A brief comment is made on the more relevant of these patents, as follows:
Keister
This patent is directed to a game for playing tic-tac-toe in which the playing board, which in this instance is vertical, is provided with nine sections each of which contains a light which is illuminated by a particular circuitry. If desired, the player may play against a machine as his opponent and in such event the machine always either wins or draws.
Archer
This patent is also directed to a so-called "solitaire" tic-tac-toe game. The player may either play against another player as an opponent or against a machine. Here again, the machine always wins or draws.
Marks
This is another example of an electric tic-tac-toe game in which two banks or rows of switches for the electric lights are employed, with nine switches being contained in each bank, thus enabling a player to illuminate any section of the playing board surface provided it has not already been illuminated by an opposing player.
D'Onofrio
This patent is to an electrical game of chance, with a tic-tac-toe layout being illustrated in FIG. 1. Note that the various electrical bulbs are exposed.
Strand
This patent is to an apparatus for playing tic-tac-toe in which the top panel of the receptacle is divided into nine squares and is translucent. Beneath this top panel are nine sections any one of which is designed to slidably receive a colored square or one bearing a particular design. An electric light in the receptacle is effective on a particular removable panel and the top panel to afford a desired color effect.
No comment is made on the remaining patents other than to point out it is believed they complete the picture of the pertinent prior art.